


of stinksap and amortentia

by markhyuck



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Comedy, Fluff, M/M, gryffindor!mark, slytherin!hyuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-01 21:22:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16773178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/markhyuck/pseuds/markhyuck
Summary: Donghyuck covers Kun in goop, and then proceeds to poison him. What he doesn't expect, however, is to get jealous over his own stupid love potion.a.k.a. the two times Donghyuck pranks Mark and Kun, and the two times he fails.





	1. stinksap

**Author's Note:**

> _if it gets a little confusing:_  
>  Donghyuck fifth year Slytherin  
> Mark sixth year Gryffindor prefect  
> Kun seventh year Hufflepuff
> 
>  _side characters:_  
>  Chenle second year Hufflepuff  
> Johnny seventh year Hufflepuff prefect  
> Renjun sixth year Ravenclaw, was in the same batch as Hyuck but moved up a year

Donghyuck steps back, admiring his handiwork with grim satisfaction on his face. Really, he could have done better, but Weasley's Wizard Wheezes can only sell him this much Stinksap worth one galleon.

Donghyuck highly doubts Mark Lee is worth one galleon, but it's not like he has anything else to spend on, anyway. Besides, this is going to be totally worth it, and he's going to make sure that this time, his best friend of ten years won't be able to get out of his embarrassment so easily. It's going to be Prank Royale.

Snickering, he slips into his cheap invisibility cloak. It's kind of prickly, but Donghyuck kind of likes the feeling. It reminds him of that ugly green sweater he got for Mark last Christmas. He slinks into the shadows as the Fat Lady eyes him with mild interest and curiosity.

He presses up against the wall as two Gryffindors pass, pausing in their tracks right beside him in confusion to point out the silver-green balloons and streamers with the words "welcome home, loser" Donghyuck had put up on the ceiling.

"We're in the right place, right? This is Gryffindor's dorm and not, like, Slytherin's, right?"

Donghyuck snorts quietly. Gryffindors, with all their talk about being the best house just because they defeated Voldemort ages ago, can be so immensely stupid sometimes.

The other Gryffindor seems to read Donghyuck's mind, letting out an exasperated breath. "You've been in Hogwarts for like, what, three years, and you're saying that our corridor with the Fat Lady has suddenly turned into Slytherin's common room just because of the green decorations?"

"How should I know! Maybe we took a wrong turn and ended up near the kitchen, I wouldn't know, I was on autopilot."

"The kitchen?"

"Slytherin common room, right?"

"No, that's Hufflepuff, you idiot— _portmanteau_ , thanks—Merlin's beard, how are you passing all your subjects when you're _this_ amazing..."

The Gryffindors fall out of earshot when they climb through the Fat Lady's portrait which had swung open to admit them, and Donghyuck is left to his own derisive mantra of _Gryffindor is the stupidest house in the Wizarding world_ , gazing proudly up at the Slytherin-themed party he had prepared for Mark.

Oh yes, Donghyuck is a Slytherin supremacist and he's not afraid to show it.

A distinct laugh catches Donghyuck's attention. It's Mark, returning from his Potions class at 5:06PM exactly as he had calculated. He withdraws further into the corner, not wanting to suffer the consequences of his own prank, and waits, wand at the ready, pointing towards the pretty balloons.

Mark rounds the corner, and Donghyuck mouths to himself silently. _Engorgio._

It all happens in slow motion. The balloons begin to swell, growing two, three, five times larger than they were, as Mark looks up at them. His eyes widen for a fraction of a second, and Donghyuck watches with dawning horror as recognition flickers across his best friend's face.

Mark is out of there before Donghyuck can say 'Stinksap'.

Then the balloons burst, and Stinksap spews everywhere. The Fat Lady shrieks, ducking out of her portrait just in time as the slimy goo covers the entirety of the wall.

Donghyuck, from the safety of his own corner, sighs. One galleon wasted. He really should have timed that better, but he got too excited. If Mark had just been _two more steps_ in, he would have succeeded, and Mark would be covered in Stinksap right now, not this innocent, doe-eyed Hufflepuff who looks like a deer caught in the headlights.

Wait, what.

Mark appears again, hair dishevelled from how fast he'd legged it out of there, peeking around the corner to check if the coast is clear. He accidentally steps in a puddle of Stinksap. Donghyuck giggles, and Mark's head whips around to glare in his general direction. "Lee Donghyuck!"

The Slytherin allows himself to enjoy the satisfaction of having Mark's eyes darting around, unsure of where to glare at, before he pulls the invisibility cloak off himself. Mark's gaze zeroes in on him. Anybody else would have wilted under that glare, but not only does Donghyuck have hide thicker than Earth's crust, he has also known Mark since he could multiply numbers, and Mark couldn't.

"I let you off easily," Donghyuck drawls, a shit-eating grin on his face, but he's already running towards his disgruntled best friend.

"Don't—!"

Mark rocks back as he is attacked with a hug, receiving an armful of Slytherin, who hugs him as if his life depends on it. Sighing, he returns the hug, nowhere near as brazenly, but still fondly. Even if he _is_ stepping in Stinksap.

"Welcome home, loser," Donghyuck says, so quietly that Mark would have missed it if they weren't tangled around each other right now, the smaller boy clinging to the Gryffindor. "I missed you."

"It's only been a month, you sap."

"Shut up, Canada. You Stinksap."

Donghyuck pulls away from Mark, ready to give him an earful of how boring it had been over the summer holidays when Mark travelled to Canada with his family to visit relatives. They'd spent every summer together since Donghyuck was ten, how _dare_ Mark abandon him like that!

As he takes a deep breath, ready to start Howler-worthy yelling, he, again, notices the Hufflepuff still standing there like a statue, stock-still and looking every bit out of his element.

Not that Stinksap would be anyone's element, but still. Donghyuck has to suppress a giggle. As bad as he feels for the stranger whom he recognises vaguely, he looks absolutely ridiculous dripping in the green stuff. Beside him, Mark looks mortified.

"Kun, oh my god, I'm sorry," Mark stammers, and the Hufflepuff seems to snap out of his daze.

"Sorry... Kun," Donghyuck echoes sincerely, because he actually _likes_ Hufflepuffs, they're nice to him unlike Ravenclaws who can be a bit stuck-up sometimes, and Gryffindor is just... well... they never quite got along.

"I was playing a prank on Mark, I didn't expect him to be with someone," he says, then rounds on Mark suddenly. "When did _you_ have friends other than me, anyway?"

Mark splutters indignantly. "Since always?"

"It's alright," Kun smiles pleasantly, interrupting them effectively before they can start bickering again. Donghyuck stares at him in stunned silence. Mark would have whooped him to high heaven if he'd actually gotten caught in the Stinksap, and this guy is just saying _it's alright_?

"It can be easily fixed." Kun draws his wand from his robes (with difficulty, considering the amount of Stinksap gathered on them), and swishes his wand in a motion that Donghyuck is by now extremely familiar with. " _Evanesco_."

Nothing happens, and colour drains from Donghyuck's face.

"Um. _Evanesco._ "

Mark frowns when Kun's Vanishing spell doesn't work, staring at a decidedly shifty Donghyuck, who looks like the poster child of Guilt. He's got his puppy eyes on and everything, and is worrying his bottom lip between his teeth. "What did you do, Hyuck? Spill."

"Um... I charmed the Stinksap to be un-Vanish-able?"

" _What?_ " Mark and Kun chorus at the same time, turning to stare at him. Mark wears a look of exasperation on his face, and Kun looks absolutely livid.

"I-I'm sorry—"

"Well, un-charm it then!" The Gryffindor replies, kicking Donghyuck's shin. He doesn't dodge, he deserved it anyway.

"I can't, bitch."

"What do you mean you can't? You charmed it!"

"I don't know how to un-charm it!"

"Use the counter-spell!"

"I don't know the counter-spell!" Donghyuck wails, and glances over at Kun with pleading eyes, and a sincere pout. Hufflepuffs always fall for that.

Kun falls for that, and his anger ebbs away as quickly as it appeared. He even seems mildly impressed, and Donghyuck preens a bit. "How did you do it, anyway? That's got to be, like, pretty advanced stuff. What year are you in?"

"Fifth."

Kun frowns. "That's not an O.W.L. level spell. I don't think we even learn anything like that for N.E.W.T.s."

Donghyuck practically glows. "I spent a month practicing that charm while Canada was away."

"God, you're such a brat," Mark glowers, and Donghyuck has the _audacity_ to giggle again, bright as the sun.

"Kun, I'll just bring your books down later and pass them to you during dinner. Probably best to head to Professor Moon now and ask him to get rid of the darned Stinksap, because a certain _smartass_ doesn't know how to get rid of the mess he caused."

"Okay," Kun replies, a lot more pleasantly than Donghyuck would if he were the one covered in unremovable goo that smelled distinctly like rancid manure and had to walk through the corridors to get to a solution.

Donghyuck wallows in guilt for a while more, before something clicks in his brain, and he panics. "W-wait! No, Kun!"

Kun, already half out of the corridor with Mark on his tail, shoots him a quizzical look.

"Um, Prof Moon threathened to kick me out of class if I got into trouble again?" Donghyuck begins, and flounders when Kun and Mark's eyes simultaneously darken. He's actually serious this time, he _can't_ get into any more trouble with Prof Moon. "I-I can't get kicked out of Charms, it's O.W.L. year! I'll fail! Please—"

"Should have thought of that when you planned the prank, you idiot," Mark knocks Donghyuck's head, too light to actually hurt, too sharp to be kidding. "We're taking Kun to Prof Moon, and _you're_ coming. Apologise or some shit. The corridor's got to be cleaned, anyway."

Donghyuck visibly panics, and Kun flusters a bit, looking rather torn and forlorn, before tugging Mark back. "It's fine... let's just figure something out. Donghyuck wouldn't have gotten in trouble if I wasn't there, anyway."

Two Gryffindor girls saunter past, looking curiously at the Stinksap, Donghyuck's exploded Slytherin setup and Kun's yellow, now disgustingly green and poop-smelling, robes. Donghyuck glares at them until they scuttle away, giggling a bit to themselves. Mark buries his face in his robes, mortified.

"I hate you," he mutters to Donghyuck, who gives him yet another prize-winning smile. Mark can't really find it in his heart to berate Donghyuck, even if he _is_ a wart on the ass. An extremely painful one.

After a moment of tense silence, Kun sighs and says, "Let's just go to the Hufflepuff common room."

With a sigh of relief, Donghyuck agrees, because there's no way the Gryffindors would be happy to have Stinksap and a very trouble-making Donghyuck in their common room.

(House rivalry is still very much a thing, especially between Gryffindor and Slytherin. The only reason Mark and Donghyuck are friends is because they'd grown up together even before they received their acceptance letters to Hogwarts, even before Mark, a muggle-born, knew the existence of magic.

Donghyuck's parents had sneered at first when he introduced Mark, being both purebloods with some prejudice towards No-Majs, but Mark grew on them, and now both their parents were friends too, not to mention they lived just across the street from each other.)

The Slytherin common room is out of bounds too, because well, if Donghyuck were to show up right now, Mark and Kun in tow, he'd have to endure teasing for the rest of his life. Jisung, the new first year who seems to have a vendetta against Donghyuck, would never let him live it down.

Besides, he's always wanted to look at Helga's portrait. She's pretty.

* * *

When they enter the Hufflepuff common room, Kun is greeted with some cheerful, curious but polite smiles, some amused laughter, some disgusted groans, many confused questions, and even more concerned fusses. Donghyuck tucks himself into Mark's side, feeling a bit out of place with all the attention and hospitality, even though he had to dodge a minor jinx from Kun's little brother—Chenle, was it?—when he found out just how stubborn the Stinksap was.

It could be worse. He could be in the Gryffindor common room, trying to dodge all the very prohibited-within-Hogwarts curses thrown his way by Mark's friends, and Mark would do nothing to help, because he is an ass like that, not that Donghyuck wouldn't deserve it. Donghyuck pouts at the thought and buries his face in Mark's shoulder. "Dammit, you should've walked into the Stinksap instead. Why are your reflexes so good?"

Mark absentmindedly rubs circles into Donghyuck's waist, flipping through a book on counter-spells that a helpful Hufflepuff had ran to the library to get. "If I had, you would regret being born right about now."

"Bullshit."

Mark doesn't reply, but Donghyuck observes with satisfaction as the tips of his ears turn red, as they always do when he gets caught in his own lies.

The Hufflepuffs had gathered around Kun, and went from making a competition to see who could get rid of the Stinksap, to getting frustrated and putting their heads together to brainstorm ideas. Unsurprisingly, the single braincell shared among all the yellow-robed students couldn't make a dent in the Stinksap, and the books weren't much help either. Kun, however, had somehow began to sport blonde hair in place of brown.

"I know this one Ravenclaw, I think he did something like that for his O.W.L.s demonstration last year for DADA, it was way out of syllabus so he got a distinction," Chenle announces suddenly, and the Hufflepuffs burst into excited conversation. "I'll go get him, wait."

Donghyuck dodges another jinx from Chenle on the way out, which bounces off the wall and hits Mark instead. With an exasperated cry, leeks start sprouting from Mark's ears. Donghyuck just laughs at him, until a nearby seventh-year Hufflepuff prefect takes pity on Mark and performs the counter-jinx.

"Learned that because Chenle used to jinx Kun all the time when he didn't get him Butterbeer from Hogsmeade because he was underage," the Hufflepuff comments, and Donghyuck chokes as he imagines Kun with leeks growing from his ears.

Seems like he's not the only one who's downed Kun with a practical joke, even though he seems like an angel and doesn't deserve any of it.

"Thanks, Johnny," Mark smiles gratefully, pushing Donghyuck away. "Take this brat with you, I don't want him."

"Hey, you love me! Shut up and deal with it." The Slytherin protests indignantly, clinging once again to Mark's side. Johnny shakes his head, amused, drifting back to Kun and leaving Mark back in the hands of a very whiny Donghyuck.

Mark shuts up and deals with it, pressing an exasperated kiss onto the crown of Donghyuck's head, a habit they'd developed since young. It's effectively shuts Donghyuck up.

"How the hell did you get that much Stinksap on you, Kun-ge, god—" The door bursts open, and a very haughty-looking Ravenclaw walks in, Chenle in tow. Donghyuck vaguely remembers that his name is Huang Renjun, who had originally been in his year. They had taken some classes together in year one and two, but he'd been so brilliant that they'd moved him up a year.

Kun vaguely gestures towards Donghyuck, who shrinks behind Mark.

"You, Mark Lee?" Renjun eyes Mark's prefect badge with contempt, but Chenle snorts. "No, It's _Hyuck_ , Renjun-ge."

Renjun's eyes land on Hyuck, who just had his cover busted, and his eyes widen with mischief. "You mean the number one class troublemaker had time to perfect a spell, but not study for O.W.L.s?"

"Shut up Renjun, there's plenty of time left to O.W.L.s!" Donghyuck scowls defensively, and Renjun just laughs, ruffling his hair. "Kidding. You never needed Charms anyway, you were always better than I was. Until now, that is."

He steps forward, wand pointed at Kun, who smiles gratefully. Everyone else stands back, and Mark makes a small choked noise that sounds like "If Kun dies, it's your fault."

Donghyuck chooses to ignore it.

Kun doesn't die, and Renjun manages to get the Stinksap off him. Donghyuck barely has time to cheer with the rest of the Hufflepuffs, Mark and Renjun before Kun turns on his heel, drawing his wand and hexing Donghyuck into oblivion as he runs for cover out of the Hufflepuff common room.

* * *

Donghyuck misses Charms class the next day anyway, because he has about twenty-four different hexes clinging to him, including one that makes him vomit rainbow-coloured goop periodically—how the _hell_ did Kun get his hands on a hex like this—and isn't exactly fit for normal muggle function, let alone Wizarding classes.

It's a win, though; he spends the next day lying in the Hospital Wing, being fussed over by Madam Pomfrey and, to his delight, a certain handsome Gryffindor prefect (who also laughed at him and told him to suck it up. "I told you karma would bite you in the ass one day, sunshine."

Donghyuck pointedly ignores the butterflies that erupt in his stomach at the supposedly derisive pet name).

Kun visits too, in the evening, bringing Donghyuck a suspicious-looking pill with an apologetic smile, saying that it'll help to relieve the pain in Donghyuck's chest from puking so much. He's still blonde, Donghyuck observes, as he swallows it gratefully, only to splutter indignantly as blood drips from his nose.

"A fucking Nosebleed Nougat, oh my _god_ Qian Kun—" Mark is positively howling with laughter by now, as Donghyuck hastily swallows the other end of the pill that Kun presents to him.

The nosebleed stops immediately, and he shrinks meekly into his hospital bed, humiliated that a smiley _Hufflepuff_ of all people could take him down so easily. Donghyuck's not usually one to be so trusting, especially around a stranger that he's known for less than twenty-four hours, but there's something about guilt and the hilarity of the whole thing that makes him accept it all with respectful silence.

Besides, Kun tells a very oblivious Mark that one of his hexes involved inflicting Donghyuck with a mysterious ailment that would go away only if the receiver was showered with constant affection. It's a dumb lie and Donghyuck _knows_ , but when Kun leaves, shooting the cringing Slytherin a wink, Mark immediately crawls into bed beside him, arms winding around his smaller frame.

Donghyuck snuggles into Mark's chest, a blush blooming on his cheeks. Mark strokes his hair and points out the constellations they spotted during Astronomy in the evening. The raven-haired Gryffindor is just about the only dumbass Donghyuck knows who actually _enjoys_ Astronomy, but he smiles and closes his eyes, listening to him drone on about Andromeda.

Donghyuck's sure that's _not even_ a constellation.

They fall asleep together like that sometime later, Donghyuck's face nestled in the crook of Mark's neck and Mark's cheek pressed against Donghyuck's hair, their legs tangled together in the sheets.

Just before he drifts off to sleep, Donghyuck vows to himself to prank Kun again, just because.

And Mark, of course.


	2. amortentia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which a single line from Renjun is enough to send Donghyuck's entire world crashing down.

"You've been close to Kun recently, haven't you?" Donghyuck asks offhandedly one day, as he works side by side with Mark in the library. The sound of Mark's quill scratching across the parchment stops momentarily as he looks up to shoot the smaller boy a devious smile.

"Yeah, well, thanks to him, you've been quieter lately, and a lot less annoying." Mark has a rather devilish smile on his face.

"Where did you pick up that look?" Donghyuck demands, feeling a bit odd. "You look exactly like me when you smile like that."

"Like what, evil? I picked it up from you, duh."

"Imitation is the highest form of flattery," Donghyuck says, with a flourish, unperturbed by the insults. "But you are going to Hogsmeade with me next weekend, not Kun." 

"We'll see about that," Mark says with a serene smile, but there's no bite in his words, and even a subtle undercurrent of fondness and exasperation that makes Donghyuck confident that the Hufflepuff isn't stealing his best friend away from him. But just for good measure, he leans into Mark.

"Pleeeaaase."

Mark flushes a bit, glancing at Donghyuck's lips, pulled into a pitiful pout, before looking away. Donghyuck's own cheeks warm at that, and with an inexplicable surge of confidence nuzzles into the Gryffindor's shoulder.

Mark smells rather pleasantly of eggs and bacon, a hint of mint as well as the seaside, an odd combination of scents that Donghyuck recognises to be his own interpretation of Amortentia, the love potion.

He draws back, frowning. Mark is visibly panicking at their proximity. "You used Amortentia as cologne, Mark Lee?"

Mark splutters, cheeks still tinged with pink, but manages to nod.

"That's so cute," Donghyuck coos, squishing his cheeks, at which an indignant Mark swats him away, forcing him back into his seat. The Slytherin just laughs, turning back to his own History of Magic essay while trying to ignore the churn of his stomach that tells him Mark is much more than just cute. 

But then a lightbulb goes off at the back of his head, and he giggles to himself, pretending to scribble a few more words onto his essay.

Beside him, Mark glances over warily.

* * *

Donghyuck stares at the vial in his hands, the mother-of-pearl liquid splashing around as he shakes it vigorously. It's a pretty potion. He would drink it himself if he didn't know what it was; muggle cocktails wouldn't hold a candle to this colour. 

It was a pain in the ass to make too, and he'd had to spend many sleepless nights in the Room of Requirement just to perfect the concoction, but it was worth it. With his pranks, it was all the way in or not at all.

Donghyuck hums to himself as he pulls out a half-eaten bag of Fizzing Whizzbees, as well as a small, polished glass jar that he had procured. He'd heard Mark mention Kun's love for these sweets, and it's with an evil chuckle that he douses them in Amortentia and arranges them as aesthetically as he can manage in the jar.

It was hard to find the perfect jar too, Hufflepuffs were generous and Donghyuck could see Kun sharing the candy with all his friends if he had too many. A whole bunch of people suddenly, inexplicably falling in love with Mark... needless to say, the consequences would be disastrous.

With a small wave of his wand, tiny words began to burn themselves into the glass jar in cursive lettering. "Kun, I hope you enjoy these. Thank you for helping me with homework the other day!"

Granted, Kun had not helped Donghyuck with homework, but that was the genius of the plan. Donghyuck would bet an arm and leg, and this prank, on Kun helping people with their homework on a regular basis. Leave the gift anonymous, and Kun would easily fall for it.

Donghyuck watches in satisfaction from the Slytherin table in the Great Hall as students begin to file in one by one, his eyes on the Hufflepuffs especially. A small second year is the first to notice the jar Donghyuck left on the Hufflepuff table, reading the inscription with curiosity before passing it down the table.

Donghyuck's not surprised that the jar lands in Kun's hands almost immediately even though he'd purposely left the jar innocuously lying all the way on the other side of the long table. In Hufflepuff, everybody knows everybody, unlike Slytherins who usually mind their own business.

He sometimes wishes he were sorted into the yellow house instead, but for the most part, they're too... huffly and puffly for him.

He watches as Kun looks at the jar, eyes curving into pleased crescents before stowing it away in his robes. Score.

Donghyuck, satisfied, picks up his fork and begins eating. Oh, Mark doesn't know what he has coming.

* * *

"Merlin's beard, how did you even get in here?"

Mark is suspended in the air by his ankles, spluttering, at the mercy of Donghyuck's wand. He can't decide whether he should focus on trying to get down, glare at the Slytherin or yell at him. He's doing all three right now, resulting in a very hilarious midair wiggle-dance.

Donghyuck wishes he could video this all down, but phones don't exactly work in Hogwarts.

"None of your beeswax. _Libracorpus_."

Mark falls back down onto his bed in a heap, letting out a string of expletives. Donghyuck giggles, throwing himself onto Mark's bed beside him, arms winding around the taller boy's torso.

"What do you mean? This is literally my dormitory, fuck off."

"You shouldn't even be wasting your time in bed, it's already 11AM, moron."

"It's a Saturday!"

"And the sun is out, so should you!"

Mark groans, burying his face back in his pillow. "Just because you're a child of the sun doesn't mean everyone is."

"Fine, go back to sleep, sorry for waking you," Donghyuck tuts, smiling too widely.

Today is the day the action should start, and Kun should be very much infatuated with Mark.

Donghyuck wants to tail Mark around so he can see it all live, but a certain Gryffindor refuses to get out of bed when the rest of the dormitory is already empty.

Donghyuck can't find it in himself to drag him out of bed, though, because Mark looks happy snuggling back into the sheets. Besides, they smell delightfully of Mark, and Donghyuck takes the opportunity to cuddle beside the drowsy Gryffindor prefect, who obligingly winds his arms around him.

"I'm going to kill you when I wake up," Mark yawns, and Donghyuck just grins, planting a kiss on his shoulder.

"Sure, Canada."

It's 12:34PM when Mark does wake again, rousing Donghyuck from his nap with a, "I'm hanging out with Kun today, wanna join?"

Donghyuck frowns at the irrational prick he feels. He should be happy, his plan is going to work perfectly and he doesn't even need to intervene, but his sleep-addled brain just doesn't like the sound of those words.

"You were going to hang out with Kun, and not me?"

"I hang out with you all the time, clingy brat."

"Exactly!" Donghyuck's lips are pulled into a petulant pout, and Mark rolls his eyes. "Come on, you big baby."

They get dressed (read: Mark gets dressed while Donghyuck pretends to smooth his rumpled green robes down, totally not ogling at his best friend) and head down to the lake, where Kun is already waiting for them while thumbing through a book.

Mark laughs as he nears the seventh-year, plopping beside him on the grass. "The Fault In Our Stars? Really?"

Kun jumps at the sound of Mark's voice, flushing as he looks up, eyes darting between him and Donghyuck, who with pride notes the starstruck gaze in Kun's eyes.

"Mark," Kun greets, slightly breathless, and he has the brightest smile on his face as he scoots over so Mark can sit closer. Mark, oblivious as usual, follows suit so Donghyuck can sit beside him.

The Slytherin doesn't miss the slight purse of Kun's lips when he takes a seat beside Mark, and another flare of irritation shoots through him. The spot beside Mark has always been his.

The conversation lapses into muggle literature, with Kun talking animatedly about several romance novels he's read, and Mark nodding and laughing along. Donghyuck, who's not muggle born unlike Mark and Kun, can't follow a single word of the conversation and eventually gives up, wandering away to some Slytherin friends he sees nearby.

He tries to ignore the way Kun has his arm around Mark's shoulders, and is looking at him adoringly while he talks. He swears Mark hates affection, but he either notice or doesn't care around Kun, unlike the way he pushes Donghyuck off or at the very least looks annoyed with him. Donghyuck tamps down the annoyance that surges through him.

* * *

Donghyuck is thoroughly fed up by the end of the week, because for some reason, the potion has not worn off at all.

(He honestly shouldn't be surprised, because he saw Kun eat the last Fizzing Whizzbee only on Thursday, and then proceed to cross the Great Hall to sit beside Mark at the Gryffindor table.

"Whipped," Donghyuck had read off the lips of a Gryffindor sitting beside them, and Kun blushed prettily. Mark, as usual, simply looked confused, but took it in his stride. Kun was very likeable, as most Hufflepuffs were.)

Donghyuck is beginning to regret this a bit, and the regret only intensifies when, while queueing with Mark to get out of Hogwarts on Hogsmeade weekend, Kun squeezes between them, asking, way too chipper, if he can tag along.

Mark smiles. "Of course!"

Donghyuck dies a little on the inside.

Hogsmeade is pleasant as usual; summer is just beginning to fade into autumn, and the first carpet of red and gold is already laid out in front of them. Donghyuck concentrates on the ground, crunching as many leaves as he possibly can under his black shoes.

"When are you going to grow out of that?" Mark asks, as Donghyuck curls his fingers around the Gryffindor's pinky. It's a habit he'd developed from young, when they used to trample crunchy leaves together and held each others' hands to prevent any accidents. (The said accident involved Mark tripping into a puddle because he wasn't looking where he was going. A pre-Hogwarts Donghyuck had laughed so hard that he involuntarily turned the puddle into a swarm of moths.

Mark found out about Magic that day.)

Donghyuck's eyes curve into crescents, and he glances up only to find Mark looking at him with the same nostalgic smile. He flusters for a moment, forgetting what he intended to say, until Kun tugs on Mark's other hand, effectively interrupting their moment.

"Let's go get Butterbeer?"

Mark nods, following him into The Three Broomsticks. Donghyuck lingers, feeling, once again, out of place as he watches Kun pull a chair out for Mark. It had always been their tradition to enter The Three Broomsticks last, after first visiting the whole of Hogsmeade.

Donghyuck decides that he hates Hufflepuffs.

"Kun's been acting weird lately," Mark comments offhandedly, as he takes a swig of Butterbeer. Donghyuck looks up, glancing behind him to check that Kun's not coming back from the restroom just yet. His lips curl into a devilish smile.

"Weird how?"

"Well, he's a really nice person, but he's been even... nicer. Going out of his way to do things for me. And..." Mark hesitates for a bit.

"And he tried to kiss you?"

"Merlin's beard, he kissed me yesterday," Mark corrects Donghyuck slowly, as if unsure whether it really happened. Donghyuck feels his insides turn to ice, and swallows hard.

"Was it nice?"

"It was, yeah," Mark rakes a hand through his hair in frustration. "But... I don't know."

Donghyuck smiles, but it feels forced.

"Maybe you should talk to him about it."

"Yeah, maybe."

* * *

Donghyuck is camping out in the library again, forsaking his usual spot with Mark right at the entrance, instead hiding behind a secluded table nearest to the Restricted Section. It's the third day he's been there every free moment, with his head resting on the table in defeat.

"You okay, dude?"

There is a scraping sound, and someone slides into the seat beside Donghyuck, followed by a heavy thud that can only be a bookbag hitting the floor. "I've never seen you this tired before, sunshine."

Donghyuck cracks one eye open, coming face to face with a very concerned Ravenclaw. Renjun's tone is haughty and condescending as usual, but his eyes are worried—Donghyuck loves that about him, that he expresses his emotions with his eyes.

The Slytherin smiles and closes his eyes again. "Mmh... stupid Mark."

"Stupid Mark? What did you do?"

"What did I do? Why are you blaming me immediately—"

"Because you did something, didn't you?"

Donghyuck sighs and sits up, running a tired hand through his brown locks, effectively messing them up. "Fine... I did. I put Amortentia in Kun's drink because he jinxed me that day, and now he and Mark are kissing, I think."

"Dude." Renjun's tone is flat enough that Donghyuck finally glances over, feeling ashamed of himself. "You're in it so deep."

"In what so deep?"

"Shit," Comes Renjun's witty response. "Oh, and love."

The Slytherin blinks, but before he can open his mouth to reply, Renjun cackles, grabs his bookbag off the floor and is out of the library before Donghyuck can say amortentia.

The brunette buries his face in his hands. "Oh, Merlin's beard."

* * *

Mark is only half surprised when a pair of arms wind around him from behind.

It's 11AM on another beautiful Saturday. The sun is streaming in through the dormitory's windows, and a certain Gryffindor prefect is still buried deep under his duvet.

Donghyuck snuggles in behind him quietly, and he stirs, turning sleepily to face the younger.

"I was wondering when you'd stop avoiding me," Mark murmurs, eyes still closed, and Donghyuck half expects him to sound annoyed, but as usual, he is not. In fact, he sounds relieved, happy even.

But Donghyuck will be darned if he lets himself get his hopes up like that.

He'd had sleepless nights ever since Mark told him Kun had kissed him. Apparently they didn't stop even after Kun's amortentia wore off, for reasons unfathomable to Donghyuck.

Now, after what Renjun said, Donghyuck had been thinking way too hard about something (or more accurately: a certain somebody) which was not his O.W.L.s, resulting in a few more sleepless nights.

And he finally understood why.

His heart ached.

"Donghyuck?" Mark is fully awake now, staring at him with a worry so intense that the Slytherin can feel it searing through him, warming his soul.

"Yeah?" He chokes out. It's only then that the Slytherin realises that he has tears in his eyes. He still has a Bad Bitch reputation to keep, though, so he wipes them on Mark's sleeve.

He can almost hear the Gryffindor rolling his eyes. 

"Would you mind telling me why you disappeared for so long, only to turn up crying in my bed?"

Donghyuck sniffs before nodding. He chews on his lip for a good moment, wondering where to start. Should he start from the point where he put Amortentia in Kun's Fizzing Whizzbees? From the holidays, when his heart ached because Mark wasn't around? From when they were basically in diapers and Donghyuck wanted to kiss Mark's stupid mouth? From a few days ago, when Renjun had said that one line that sent Donghyuck's whole world crashing?

"Just say it," Mark urges, running his fingers through the younger's hair soothingly. "I won't judge you, you know me."

It's simple, but enough to comfort Donghyuck so that he manages to muster up the courage to look up into Mark's brown irises.

"I'm in love with you?"

Mark, predictably, turns red. But so does Donghyuck, and he scrambles to fix the mess he's already created.

"I mean! I know you and Kun are dating, ugh that was so stupid of me, I didn't realise I liked you so much and I went and put Amortentia in Kun's candy and then you two kissed and I got jealous and that's why I disappeared, I didn't think—well what I'm saying is, I've been in love with you for ages Mark, I'm sorry I'm a dumbass for not realising that earlier, but now it's too late and—oh Merlin's beard, I should go."

Donghyuck is already halfway out of the bed, tripping over the sheets in his haste to disentangle himself from them, when Mark catches hold of his arm.

"Who said Kun and I were dating?"

Donghyuck whirls around slowly, before huffing. "Is that all you got from it, Canada?"

Mark doesn't respond, his eyes roaming over the younger's face. Donghyuck hasn't ever seen him this serious before, and he flushes even redder if possible under the scrutiny of Mark's eyes.

"There wasn't once I could kiss Kun without your pea-brained ass on my mind," Mark says, so quietly Donghyuck nearly misses it.

"M-my peabrained ass?" is Donghyuck's intelligent reply.

Mark nods resolutely, and takes a step closer. Donghyuck's breath hitches.

"We're not dating. I told him that I couldn't... Couldn't if it's not you."

"What are you saying, Canada?" Donghyuck breathes out, voice small and unconfident with each inch Mark closes between them.

Mark smiles, and it's happy, yet the uncertainty swirling in the younger's eyes are reflected in his. The tension in the air is palpable, the moment fragile... almost intimate.

"Hyuck, you mean a lot to me. With each moment I spend with your extra ass... you're the person I spend the most time with, even though we're from different, even rival houses. Hell, ever since we were little you were special.

"I never let anyone intrude into my life, but with you it's easy and I need it. I need you.

"You're there by my side in each crucial moment, peak or trough, as a best friend maybe, but I'd like to rely on you as something more. And I—wish to be there for you too, more and more.

"Just like I fall for you more and more with each passing day."

Mark takes a deep breath. "I'm in love with you too, brat."

Donghyuck, for a moment, feels liberated. Almost lightheaded. It's like he's stopped functioning for a moment, yet he knows exactly what Mark just said, and he is soaring. He hopes he doesn't look as starstruck as he feels.

"You look like you swallowed some amortentia," Mark laughs, breezy and in all senses of the word attractive, then Donghyuck closes his eyes as their lips first slot together, fireworks bursting behind his lids.

Amortentia does, after all, work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that's a wrap, folks, leave a comment!
> 
> the next thing i'm working on is the sequel to my norenmin soulmates!au ;)


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